Morgan Studdard Places Seventh at Nationals

HOSA: Future Health Professionals national competition was held recently in Anaheim, California. Students from all over the United States and their advisors gathered together to compete in their respective events. Four students from Jasper County High School attended the conference.

Morgan Studdard earned her way to national competition by placing second at the state level last March in the Home Health Aide competitive event. Morgan began her competition by taking a knowledge test where the top 30 students advanced to part two which was the “hands on” portion.

She had to perform two randomly selected skills in a specific time frame in front of judges. Morgan came out feeling good about how she had performed and stated, “It doesn’t matter how I did. I feel good to have made it this far.”

Mrs. Cole, HOSA advisor, stated, “Morgan had such a good outlook. I could not be more proud than to have taught a student like Morgan.”

At the awards ceremony, Morgan was called to the stage as the only Georgian to make it as a top 10 finalist in the Home Health Aide competition. She placed seventh overall and received a pin and certificate for her accomplishments.

“She represented Georgia and Jasper County High School well,” stated Mrs. Cole. Morgan will be attending Gordon State College in the fall to pursue a career in nursing.

Starr Batchelor, Kirsten Pettis, and Seth Pettis also attended the competition and were three of the four Georgia HOSA representatives chosen to assist in Courtesy Corps. These students were given special duties to assist with various functions at National Competition.

They attended an orientation and were assigned duties during the awards ceremony. Their primary responsibility was to ensure that every student who came to the awards ceremony was in dress code. The students felt that this was hard because they were faced with having to tell not only students but also advisors that they were not in dress code and would not be allowed in unless they changed.

The students learned a valuable lesson from the experience and were honored to have been able to represent Georgia in this capacity.

The time between competitive events and meetings was spent packing in as much sightseeing and fun activities as they could.

The group traveled to Hollywood where they visited Griffith Observatory and were able to see many exhibits and the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. They took in sights on Hollywood Ave. and were able to see Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Next stop was Rodeo Drive and on to Santa Monica Beach and Pier. The students were able to walk around the carnival rides on the pier, grab a bite to eat, and swim in the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, no trip to Anaheim would be complete without visiting Disneyland. The students were able to visit Disneyland where they were celebrating their 60th anniversary or Diamond Celebration.

The group rode the world famous Mickey Ferris Wheel and many other rides within the park. The entire experience throughout the week was quite “magical.”